28 October, 2010

We had a great time at the Fall Festival this year! C ate and ate and ate! He had more candy last night that I think he's had in his entire life! He also had a hot dog weiner, popcorn and some cotton candy. D ate half a lollipop and didn't get her hot dog till right before we left, so she ate a weiner and some fritos on the way home.

Thanks Debbie B for the idea for the Scarecrow cake. I didn't buy enough fruit roll ups, so he's a little bare in the hair department :O) I made him and 2 dozen of the spider cupcakes below as well as a German Chocolate cake for the Cake Walk that the Sanctuary Choir hosts each year. I started baking when Hubby and D left for work/school and only got finished about 4:30 p.m.!

Here's the Baker's little helper!

I have SUPER KIDS!

(look at those big feet on Superman - he's wearing an 8! D didn't wear that size till she was nearly 5 years old!)

10 October, 2010

I haven't said much on the blog, but in January I set a goal that by 10-10-10 I would wear a size 10 again. This morning the tag in my dress read "10!"

I actually achieved the goal back in August when I wore a size 10 dress to church on my birthday and I had also bought a couple pairs of size 10 jeans. Now, I am realistically a comfy size 12 with a few 10's fitting in here and there. I'd like to lose about 15 more pounds so that 10 is my main size with a few 8's popping in every now and then.

I know that size 10 to many people is still big. But I don't have aspirations of being tiny - I've never been and I never will be. When I got married 15 1/2 years ago, I wore size 10/12. So that was the focus of my goal. I just wanted to be able to shop again in the "regular" sizes. To be able to be "average" and to reach for a normal size on the rack and be pretty sure it would fit. I was so proud when I was finally able to move out of the plus sizes! It is not a happy place to have to shop!

I've lost about 60 pounds since January. Over the years of struggling with infertility and the emotional roller coaster of adoption, my weight had crept up and up. In the years of waiting for and then losing Viktoria, it really crept up. But I truly didn't realize that it had gotten as bad as it was. I'd been in a size 18W and some 20W's creeping in here and there for several years. But I didn't "see" myself the way others must have seen me. Actually I looked to myself pretty much the same as I look in the current pictures above. But . . .

. . . pictures surely don't lie. My "Ah-Ha" moment was last Christmas when we had our Family Portraits done and I couldn't believe that was me! Surely I didn't really look like that! But the worst thing was that we got so many compliments on the picture! I will admit, the rest of my family really did look great, but if people thought "that" picture was of me looking GOOD? Something had to be done - and that was when it clicked.

So on January 4 I started focusing on my goal of being in a size 10 again by 10-10-10. It really helped to have that to focus on.

I started out by just making a few changes that Dr. Oz had outlined in his shows. Automate breakfasts (Oatmeal and turkey bacon); eat almonds (100 calorie snack each afternoon); eat yogurt (morning snack); take fish oil; drink lots of water; really watch portions; exercise at least 30 minutes per day. I did this for a few weeks and I saw results! Then I started really focusing on calorie counting along with these previous changes. I did very well for a couple weeks and then I figured, "if this is working - less calories and more exercise would really work!" WRONG. I dropped my calories too low (1000-1200) and my weight loss stalled. It took me nearly 3 weeks to realize this. So that is when I settled on keeping my calories between 1400-1600 each day; drinking about 100 oz of water and exercising at least 30 minutes, but most days closer to an hour. Steadily the weight just disappeared - about 8 pounds per month. In the last several months it has slowed way down, but I've also relaxed on my calorie counting and have held fairly steady.

Ok, end of horn tooting. Back to pictures of cute kids and fun family times!

08 October, 2010

I'll add some pictures for our recent trip to SW Texas. We were surprised there were "mountains" there, weren't expecting that! We stayed in a log cabin and visited Lost Maples State Park.

We ate at a place called Mac and Ernie's that Guy Fieri visited for Diners, Drive-ins & Dives - click here. I must admit I'm kind of a snoot when it comes to going to Dives, but when I learned he'd featured it on his show, I was better about it. The food was pretty good!

When we were unloading the car, we had a little shower and this pretty rainbow appeared over the mountain.

We hiked in Lost Maples State Park, I like this picture of D & C walking together.

Walking across the rock bridge over the stream.

There were lots of beautiful butterflies. I was happy with the way this picture turned out!

C "fishing" with Mommy (he didn't have a hook!)

Daria looked so forward to fishing, but didn't get a nibble - yes, she had a hook. Maybe next time?

We enjoyed wading (D actually swam) in this spring fed part of the Sabinal River which was on the property of our cabins. The water was so clear.

D and I rode horses on Saturday. She has ridden a few horses before, but doesn't really remember it. But never before for this long and all on her on. We had a trail ride of 30-45 minutes. The horse she rode is named Red.

GLAD YOU STOPPED BY!

About Me

I began this blog to chronicle our 3 1/2 year journey toward adoption and building a new house in the meantime!
We began this adoption believing our child was in Russia. We traveled to Russia and met a 13 month old girl named Viktoria. We waited 18 months for a court date to return to adopt her but learned July 23, 2007 that a Russian family adopted her instead while we were waiting. A year later, we were hugely surprised when we got a call that a baby boy was about to be born in the hospital 1.4 miles down the road from our new house and I was able to be in the delivery room when he was born July 29, 2008! If you are interested in reading the first part of our story, you can visit http://RussianAdoptionDva.blogspot.com
Today this blog has become more about our everyday life as a regular everyday family. It took a while to get here, but boy am I glad we're all home now!